I Love Bitty Wear

One of the best things about being over 40 is that I no longer have any reason to shop in silly stores such as Urban Outfitters. I gave up on that store long ago. I don't waste time with ill-fitting, poorly made tissue paper garments and barely trained, pretentious and/or clueless clerks and customer service reps. Now, I shop at places like Lands' End online and Talbots. Yes, Talbots--a store my mom used to drag me in to. Once I thought these stores were elastic waisted pastel hells. Now they seem like havens of reason.

Square Cut or Pear Shaped
Bitty wear designers understand that trends come and go, but women's shapes stay the same. Until I start to shrivel, I will always have broad shoulders, wide hips, long legs, and a big butt. And Lands End will always sell knee-length A-line skirts even if pencil skirts are all the rage. Bless them. I love to wear pencil skirts as long has they have vents. I do need to walk after all.

"I call them flavors."
When you're older, you don't need to dress in all black in order to be taken seriously. That's what the circles under your eyes are for. Time to liven up with some Talbots flavor. Bring on the chartreuse, geranium, and an orange popcicle pantsuit. Does this all seem to suburban and WASPy? It turns out the bright golf club colors look great on darker skin. How ironic.

Dresses with Pockets!
Bitty wear dresses often come with pockets, because women need to carry their own shit. When I was eighteen, I needed to carry my own shit, but too few skirts and dresses had real pockets. Old bitties don't stand for that nonsense any more. We demand pockets, and we get them.

Dresses with Sleeves!
For some reason, the fashion industry gave up on putting sleeves on dresses a few years ago. I'm sure the Obamas will be blamed, but I think it's a plot to sell more sweaters. Even if you have awesome arms and you want everyone to see you flex, winter will come, and then you will be cold and sad. Bitty Wear accepts this fact. It also understands that we all don't have awesome arms and armpits. Talbots even has a line of dresses in which the plus sizes have different sleeve lengths. The regular dresses have cap sleeves and the womens' have short sleeves. Hello, that just makes sense.